Sara had to smile. Boon looked great; the dress was the perfect cut for her small frame, and the blue color made her blonde hair seem richer, and complemented her blue eyes perfectly.
The look on the girl’s face when she saw herself in the mirror was worth making her put the thing on. Her jaw dropped as she took in the halter style top that ended in a high waist, and the layered skirt that flared out around her just slightly.
Sara stepped up, making a ‘not bad’ face as she nodded her approval. “Damn, Boon. You look great in that,” she said admiringly.
“Thanks, but you know I can’t—”
“My treat,” Sara cut her off. “Think of it as a training gift, if there is such a thing. Fuck it, we’ll call it a thing. It’s your training gift.”
The woman began to fuss with the cut and fit of the dress with practiced hands, making marks with a small piece of chalk. The last thing she did was pin the hem of the dress four centimeters shorter, revealing more of Boon’s legs. The effect was that she now looked six centimeters taller.
“Do you like it?” the woman asked, smiling at Boon’s overwhelmed expression.
“I love it,” she breathed, smoothing down the skirts with both hands.
“Good! Take it off, and I can make the adjustments while you wait. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes,” she said, shooing Boon back into the changing room and closing the curtain.
Sara saw a rack of bathing suits to her left, and, realizing they didn't have any swimwear, picked out two string bikinis with a nice crocheted design along the edges. She figured if they only had to tie them, they wouldn't have to try them on. She grabbed a white one that matched her knit cap and a red one for Boon, just to mix it up a little, then wandered back over toward the changing room.
She and Mr. Green Jeans stood in silence for a minute, until Sara said, “You’re really good, you know that?”
“At what, making dresses?” the woman asked, a half-grin on her face.
“That too,” Sara grinned back.
Chapter 9
They checked into the little hotel that Baxter had mentioned, after wandering down two wrong side streets looking for the place. “The Quiet Hideaway” only had ten rooms, but it seemed all ten had been built with meticulous care. Their room’s floor plan was open, with the two king-sized beds in small, private rooms on either side of a shared living space that opened out onto a furnished balcony. While the entrance to the hotel had been down a tight alley, the rooms were on the top floor, so that the view was uninterrupted all the way to the water.
Baxter has some good taste, Sara noted as she threw her bag on her bed.
“We’re really just going to go hang out at the beach for the rest of the day?” Boon asked, yelling from the other bedroom to be heard.
“It’s not like we have a lead just yet. I’m going to see if there’s anything on Cora's core that can help, but I can do that anywhere, so why not take advantage of the beach while we’re here?” Sara answered, pulling the two bikinis from the shopping bag.
“I don't have a suit,” Boon said, turning just in time to have both the top and bottom of the red bikini hit her in the face. She quickly snatched them from the air, taking a second to recognize what they were. “Oh, wow. I’ve never worn so little in public before.”
Sara laughed from the doorway, “That’s a pretty conservative suit compared to what I’m sure we’ll be seeing. Get changed. We’re burning daylight, Blondie.”
Sara leaned back on the wooden beach chair. She was still wearing the white knit hat, but it matched the crocheted bikini perfectly, and she rather liked not having people stare at her unusual hair color. The bikini fit just right and complemented her pale skin. She knew she would be a little burned that night, but her burns usually tanned by the next day, and she could really use the vitamin D.
She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her skin, making up for the last few weeks she had spent under artificial light. The drone of people speaking and kids playing and the ever-present sound of the crashing waves became a white noise she could clear her mind to.
Until she heard Boon cursing under her breath and rummaging in their bag. The hotel had provided a woven bag, along with some beach towels and flip flops, and Alicia was in the process of dumping the contents of the bag out on the sand.
Alister had been curled up under Sara's chair, out of the sun, but when the towels hit the ground, he climbed out from under the seat and burrowed his way into the heap, his tail sticking out and slowly flicking back and forth.
“What the hell, Boon? Don't get sand all over everything,” Sara scolded, reaching into the pile of towels and personal items to grab her arm tablet. “I don't want to be picking sand out of the ports on this thing.” She banged the side of the tablet on her palm to dislodge a few granules.
“Sorry, I can't find my sunglasses. I think I left them in the room,” she said, looking inland toward the hotel, as if she could escape.
“They’re right there.” Sara pointed at the neck of the tee shirt Boon had insisted on wearing over her suit.
Boon looked down and saw the black glasses hanging from her collar. “Oh. Right.”
She sheepishly pulled them out and slipped them on her face. She then looked around to see if anyone was looking her way. When she was satisfied that there was not a crowd forming to stare at her, she pulled off her tee shirt and laid back, feigning comfort.
Sara just watched her for a while, paying special attention to the tendon that stood out more and more prominently from her neck the longer she ‘relaxed’.
Wow, how can she be this shy?
“Boon,” Sara said, still staring at her sideways from her beach chair.
Boon didn't move, but Sara could see she was staring up into the sky like an animal frozen with fear.
“Boon,” Sara said, louder this time.
Jumping at her name, Boon stiffly swung her head to face Sara. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
“No, but you look like you’re going to pop a blood vessel. Relax. What’s got you so tight?”
With a sigh, she said in a loud whisper, “I’ve never been this naked in front of strangers. It’s freaking me out.”
Sara sighed. I should have guessed. They had one-piece suits, why didn't I just grab one of those?
Clearing her throat and giving Boon a bright smile, she said, “Listen, if you’re that uncomfortable, just put your shirt back on. But just so you know, you don't have anything to be embarrassed about. You’re in the military, and we tend to be in pretty good shape. You look good. But if it makes you feel more comfortable, cover up. Just understand that no one is judging you.”
Boon gave her a smile, “Thanks, Captain.”
“None of that ‘captain’ shit. We’re on leave, remember? It’s just ‘Sara’,” she said, leaning back again. She noticed Boon slip the tee back on over the blood red bikini before she closed her eyes.
Sara felt the presence of a hulking figure behind her, felt the power emanating from it. Even through the protective plating of her Aetheric armor, she could feel its heat, like standing too close to a campfire. A bead of sweat rolled down her neck inside the suit, making her itch.
She turned around, bringing her hands up in a defensive posture, ready to face her enemy. She was a War Mage, and this creature stood no chance against her might.
She froze when she saw what she faced. Or rather, who she faced.
Standing three meters away was Cora, surrounded by swirling flames. Her eyes glowed a molten red as power surged through her. She opened her mouth, and flames poured out, rippling up her face to dance atop her head like a crown of flames. There was joy in her expression, as if she were reveling in the uncontrollable, evil power that rolled off her in waves.
Sara knew she needed to stop her sister before she could hurt anyone. She mustered her will to snuff out the thing Cora had become, but no spellform came to her. She looked around her feet for Alister's ever-present form, but h
e was nowhere to be seen. She tried to make the spellform in her own mind, but like always, it wouldn't form properly. She was powerless.
She took a step back, trying to gauge the situation better, and noticed a small cat jump onto the flaming figure’s shoulder. It was Alister; he, too, was wreathed in flame, his normally yellow eyes a deep crimson as they regarded her with hate.
Sara took another step back, realization hitting her like a blaster to the stomach.
That’s not Cora. That’s me.
The burning Alister leapt forward from the shoulder of the twisted version of herself, and landed on her chest, the heat of his flames scorching her face. She was frozen with fear as he stared into her soul.
He reached up a paw and smacked her face—not hard, but firmly. He did it again. And again. Then he bit her nose.
Sara shot up from her lounging position, her sudden movement throwing Alister to the sand from where he had been perched on her chest. Her heart was racing, and she couldn't seem to be able to catch her breath. She put a hand to her chest and squeezed her eyes closed, trying to will her beating heart to calm.
Alister hopped up onto the chair beside her, shaking the sand off and looking at her in concern, but he seemed distracted. He kept glancing over his shoulder.
They were still on the beach.
I must have fallen asleep. She looked down at Alister. “Sorry, I didn't mean to toss you like that. I was having a nightmare,” she explained as way of apology.
Alister didn't seem to care, as he began smacking her leg and looking in Boon’s direction.
Her heart slowing to a manageable level, Sara turned to see the girl kneeling in the sand, her eyes wide open, and tears streaming down her cheeks. She seemed to be frozen in place, as if she were being electrocuted.
“What’s happening?” Sara asked, rolling off the chair to kneel in front of Boon. “Can you hear me? What did you do?” She reached out to shake Boon’s shoulders and received a nasty shock of Aether for her trouble.
A flash of movement caught Sara's attention, and she saw Boon’s tablet half-buried in the sand beside her, with the image of the spellforms for the Familiar spell rotating on the screen.
“Oh, my god. Alister, did she cast this?” she asked the near-panicking cat.
“Merp!” he said, scrambling to her side and looking up at her with concerned eyes.
“Shit,” she swore, looking around the crowded beach. So far, no one had seemed to notice anything was happening, but Sara knew that would not last. She leaned in close to the girl and said, “Boon, can you hear me? Alicia? If you’ve begun casting the Familiar spell, I need to know you can hear me.”
Boon’s eyes flicked to hers, making brief contact before glazing over again.
Sara gave a half-smile. “Okay, good. Now, this is going to be the hard part. The spell is going to want to take every last bit of your Aether; I know they teach you not to use it all, but this time I need you to let it go. All of it. In fact, push it out. The spell won’t work unless you make a full connection.” She bit her lip, hoping Boon had understood.
Sara could remember when she had cast the spell, and how frightened she had been. She didn't know if her previous magical training had helped her or hindered her. If she were less practiced back then, she may not have been able to stop the last little bit of Aether from flowing out. However, now that she had completed the spell, she knew she had gone through an ordeal she hadn’t needed to. The spell had to be completed with intention as much as action.
“You need to give up that last bit willingly, or it won’t work. Trust that everything will be fine. It will, I promise,” Sara said, her eyes welling with tears as she watched Boon suffer.
Then a change came over Boon’s face. She went from tight-jawed and struggling to serene in the blink of an eye. Her features softened, and her shoulders sagged in relaxation. Boon closed her eyes and rolled sideways to the sand, her body sending up a small puff of dust.
Sara sat in stunned silence, not sure if she should touch her. She pushed the fear of being shocked to the back of her mind and felt for a pulse. She found none.
“Oh, fuck,” she said in panic, rolling Boon onto her back to begin CPR.
Before she could begin compressions, Boon’s skin began to glow slightly with Aether, the blue light difficult to see in the midday sun. Sara leaned back, not sure what to do. The light was getting brighter, and a static charge was building in the area. The hairs on Sara's arms stood up, and she could feel little zaps on her head as her hair built up a charge. A small radio a few meters away cut to static, making its owner pick it up and start fiddling with it in confusion.
The light of Alicia’s skin quickly built in intensity, soon overpowering the glow of the sun on her skin, and gaining the attention of a few passersby. Sara had to shield her eyes from the light, and she scooted back a meter or so.
As the light became brighter and brighter, Boon’s body slowly lifted into the air until it hovered half a meter off the ground. Then it began to pulse with light—slowly at first, but increasing in frequency with each blip until they were right on top of each other.
A crowd was now gathering to watch the odd light show. They were keeping their distance, but Sara could see several tablets held up as people thought to record the event.
The pulses were flashing so fast they became one, continuous, bright light, too harsh to look at directly. Then in one final pulse, the light exploded out from Boon’s body and through the crowd, causing everyone to duck and a few to scream. Sara could see the wave of light dimming as it traveled out in a sphere, racing across water and land, passing through objects as if they were not there.
Boon landed on the sand with a thump, her power spent. Sara reached over and found a pulse, to her great relief.
The gathered crowd made her nervous; she needed to get Boon out of there. With a thought to Alister, he provided her a shield spell to power. It was a sphere that encircled her and Boon and a considerable chunk of sand, along with all of their belongings. Alister provided a second spell, and the sphere rocketed up off the beach and quickly shot into town.
Sara was sure to move fast and stay low, keeping them from being seen, only popping up to arc over the rail of their balcony. She dropped the shield, spilling sand all over the deck boards. She didn’t care about the mess in the least, but she wondered what the cleaning staff would make of it.
She scooped Boon up and carried her to her bed, laying the unconscious girl down. Then she pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning close to watch over her.
Alister climbed onto the bed and, pressing himself up against Boon’s leg, laid down.
“That could have gone better,” Sara admitted, resting her chin in her hands.
“Merp,” Alister agreed.
Chapter 10
The rest of the day, Sara alternated between pacing and sitting in the chair beside Boon. She ordered some room service, but had no appetite when it arrived. Alister made quick work of a piece of succulent pork before returning to Boon’s side. He gave Sara a nod of reassurance, and then closed his eyes to nap again.
By midnight, Sara was sitting in the chair, her head slowly sinking to her chest as sleep began creeping its way in. She was nearly gone, her head bouncing a few times as she tried in vain to fight off the warm embrace, when Alister sat up, startling her back to wakefulness.
“What? What happened?” Sara asked, leaning in to check on Boon. She was sleeping comfortably, but unchanged.
Alister however was not looking at Boon. He was staring over his shoulder, toward the front door. He swung his head around, his yellow eyes wide with excitement. “Merp!” he said, with a flick of his ear.
He jumped to the floor and raced out into the main room, disappearing around the corner, meowing and chirping the whole way.
Sara jumped up and chased after him. He was sitting at the door, looking up at the handle and then back to her. Sara reached out and opened the door, expecting to see an animal waitin
g, like when she had first summoned Alister, but there was nothing there.
“What the hell, Alister?” she asked, looking down, but he was gone. She stuck her head out the door and looked down the hall just in time to see him turn and head down the steps at the end of the passageway.
Fuck, he’s fast, she thought. She stepped out into the hall, but went back for her room key. It wouldn't do to get locked out when my roommate is passed out.
She rushed out onto the balcony and sifted through the pile of sand, finally finding the card key. A few seconds later, she was running down the hall after Alister. She took the stairs two at a time and was in the lobby of the small hotel a minute later.
She looked around the empty, marble-floored lobby, but didn't see the little stinker anywhere. There was a young man at the front desk, reading a tablet and not paying attention to anything. She ran to the desk, her bare feet not making a sound, and slapped her hand to the marble counter right in front of the guy. He jumped and tossed the tablet in the air, fumbling it between his hands a few times before finally catching it.
“Have you seen my cat? He came down here a second ago,” Sara said, her intensity making the poor guy cringe away from her.
“Uh, um, what? W-where did you come from? Were you at the beach? It’s closed at night, you can't go down there,” he blurted, confused and frightened at her sudden appearance.
“The beach? What the fuck are you talking about? I’m looking for my cat,” she repeated, trying to understand his rambling.
He waved a hand at her chest. “You have a bathing suit on, I just assumed…”
Sara looked down, noticing she was still wearing the white bikini. She’d been so intent on watching over Boon that she hadn’t bothered to change. She shook her head in irritation, and turned away, scanning the lobby again.
“Alister? Alister, where are you?” she shouted to the empty area.
War Mage Chronicles- Part One Page 31
